My horse hates the Ontario cubes but cleans up standlee. They soften pretty quickly.
Another vote for Standlee. We had tried other brands and the horse wouldn’t eat them. The vet suggested them and our horses love them. We use the timothy/alfalfa cubes.
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I use the Dumor brand Alfalfa/Bermuda mix hay pellets at Tractor Supply. They also have straight alfalfa and an alfalfa timothy mix pellet and all 3 varieties come in cubes if you prefer that. The pellets soak quick in warm water, less than 10 minutes. I feed 3 lbs a day to my 28 yr old mare, mixing it with her senior feed to make a mash. I’ve had horses with no molars at all that got all their hay this way, 8 lbs senior and 10 lbs hay pellets. They kept weight well. The Blue Seal Hay Stretcher I’m not a fan of, it’s not really hay. Hay pellets or cubes are actually hay.
I also do the Semican. Prefer it over Standlee!
I second the Dumor Alfalfa/Bermuda pellets. My picky 24-year-old loves them! He even knows them by name now (I call it his “Slurpee”, and he whinnies when I ask, “Are you ready for your Slurpee?”).
They soften quickly, even if I forget to set them out to soak ahead of time.
I have a large boarding facility in Ca. I have two Cushings horses. My vet said no alfalfa. So am feeding Bermuda pellets or Orchard pellets. After reading more on Cushings, am wondering if better NSC in alfalfa/bermuda pellets? And my feed co has me use Safe Choice to give them their Prescend, dissolved. Now reading the NSC is very high. What is better? Both horse have bad teeth due to age and not being floated before they came into my ranch, so thinking 1/4 inch pellets best. My feed store has Ametzcua pellets and have a Tractor Supply nearby.
Nance - I’m dealing with similar. No alfalfa. Suspected IR horse. I’m having to research all of this - again. Now it’s not NSC but ESC + starch - and iron. I was just researching some Bermuda pellets and saw higher than expected starch and also iron. Starch cannot be soaked out of it. Also some of the pellet blends have molasses in them. Also not good. I guess could be soaked out. I’ve been talking to a guy at Ametza about getting an analysis on their Bermuda. The compressed hay and the pellets. I hope both come out low in ESC, starch and iron.
I use Standlee products (carried by TSC) - both the compressed Alfalfa and the pelleted Alfalfa. I have two horses prone to founder/laminitis and require fairly strict diets low in NSC and min access to lush grass. Alfalfa pellets/cubes are typically lower in NSC than Timothy or Orchard Grass pellets. Standlee doesn’t have a Bermuda product, so can’t speak to that. The table below shows the sugar/starch in their forage and pelleted products. Of course, with Alfalfa, you’re getting higher protein than other forages, even though its lower in starch, sugars and fructans. So if higher protein is a no go, then Alfalfa isn’t a good choice (16% protein for Alfalfa and 8% for Timothy or Orchard Grass).
https://standleeforage.com/nutrition/nutritional-papers/low-carb-forage-options
Any brand alfalfa pellets work for me. I’ve found that soaking with hot water softens them up immediately. I use an electric tea kettle to boil water.
If you are in the Southeast you should check out Seminole alfalfa pellets. I much prefer them to the Standlee brand.
I use the timothy balanced cubes by TC. Low sugar/starch, no iron, etc. Works very well for my three which are IR prone. These cubes have been balanced to themselves as to copper, zinc, etc. and can be fed as a full meal. That is the only thing mine get plus a low esc+starch hay.
We had an IR/Cushings/toothless 30-something gelding, this is how we handled it: plain beet pulp, soaked, drained, soaked and drained again. Added (in this case) 1 lb orchard pellets, 1 lb alfalfa pellets, his vitamin supp, a phosphorus supp (because BP is all calcium) and whatever else he needed. He got this twice a day. He was also on Prascend.
I don’t know what your horses weigh or caloric needs might be so I won’t advise on how much to feed, but you might try plain (no molasses added) beet pulp that is soaked, drained, soaked and drained again. We just used a giant spaghetti colander.
My horses are doing very well on the Standlee brand Alfalfa pellets.
My current toothless wonder is happily eating soaked Triple Crown Timothy Balance cubes. He was eating alfalfa cubes before and doing okay, but he eats these even better.
Everything I’ve read and heard about horses on the metabolic spectrum says that Alfalfa is the best hay option for them- higher protein, but lower NSC. Timothy, I am given to understand, holds high sugars in the heads- so, no go. Orchard grass can be iffy. I do know that opinions vary :winkgrin:, however, my crew seems to bear all of this out.
Overall, for the price, Dumors alfalfa hay cubes and pellets are a great buy. I do love me some Standlee compressed alfalfa bales, however. Pricey, but gorgeous.
I’m in TX and can find Top of the Rockies alfalfa cubes easily, Manzanola Feed out of Colorado produces them. I’ve been very happy with them. The company states the alfalfa is from non-GMO seed stock. They scoop easily, soak easily and are not as hard as other cubes I have tried. There is no binding ingredient which is great! I have tried Standlee but was not thrilled with them as they did not soak very well and had binder. Ontario Dehy and Triple Crown cubes were great quality and texture (soft) but hard to find consistently here. Other brands I tried had binders and did not do well soaking. When I lived out west, Mountain Sunrise was my favorite brand. They were out of Utah.
I had an old pony on Triple Crown Safe Starch forage until he started picking through it and only eating the softer parts. I switched him to Standlee orchard or timothy pellets, soaked along with some beet pulp, and he thrived on that until he died of other causes at 34.
I have also bought a few bags of Standlee alfalfa pellets over the years, and have been happy with it, especially compared to another brand that I once tried that seemed a much lesser quality (sorry, can’t remember what it was).
I’ve been feeding Standlee Alfalfa cubes (and beet pulp shreds FWIW) as there is very limited access to these types of products in my current location - no very few if any other options that I can consistently get access to. However, the quality hasn’t been bad. Everything soaks fine and we haven’t had any quality issues thus far.
I use the Forage Global Essentials mini cubes since they alfalfa (or T&A) cubes w/add’l vitamins/minerals to make them a complete ration (and Ca:Ph balanced).
If I had a horse getting “normal” rations I don’t know that would bother, but I’m dealing with an easy keeper retiree + an easy keeper in a hard work, so between both of them getting so little calories in grain (ration balancer), a lot of grass hay and not any real pasture right now (unless you define “mud” as pasture… sigh…), I want to make sure everything is balanced and they are about the same price as standlee and both are at TSC. Plus "mini"makes then a bit easier to break down by soaking or easier to chew without soaking.
Also, way back when fed alfalfa pellets, as the earlier poster said, seminole pellets were way better than any other.
(ETA - sorry, not really relevant to the updated inquiry that revived this old post)
I have used this product on my easy keeper fatty. CHopped hay NO MOLASSES. https://lucernefarms.com/hi-fiber-gold/ I also use Seminole’s T/A cubes which I soak in water for about 10 minutes.
